SHANGHAI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - China shares ended higher on Tuesday after data showed exports in the world’s second-largest economy unexpectedly grew at a faster pace last month, and as officials pledged to push further opening of capital markets to foreign investors.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.51% at 3,676.59 points.
The blue-chip CSI300 index closed 1.2% higher, with its financial sector sub-index climbing 2.01%, the real-estate index up 0.37% and the healthcare sub-index down 0.16%.
Shipments from the world’s biggest exporter in August rose at a faster-than-expected rate of 25.6% from a year earlier, from a 19.3.% gain in July, pointing to some resilience in China’s industrial sector.
China will further open its capital markets to foreign investors, the top securities regulator said on Monday, adding that it will pursue pragmatic cross-border cooperation to regulate overseas-listed Chinese companies.
Foreign investors were net buyers of A-shares through the Stock Connect programme, with Refinitiv data showing net inflows of 10.46 billion yuan ($1.62 billion) for the day.
The materials sector jumped 3.41% and the consumer discretionary sub-index rose 1.22%.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended 1.13% higher and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.725%.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.04%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.86%.
At 0700 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.4565 per U.S. dollar, 0.02% firmer than the previous close of 6.458.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index climbed 5.9% and the CSI300 dropped 4.2%, while China’s H-share index listed in Hong Kong was down 11.8%. Shanghai stocks advanced 3.74% this month.
($1 = 6.4569 Chinese yuan)